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Sign the Petition to

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

I am writing to you today out of deep concern about the arbitrary, flawed and biased use of the death penalty in India.

For years, the death penalty has been awarded in India in ways the Supreme Court has described as subjective and judge-centric.

Courts in India award the death penalty about once in three days, on average. The poorer a person is, the more likely they are to be sentenced to death. The use of capital punishment has a class bias and discriminates against the most powerless people in our society. False evidence and manipulated investigations are common and are used to benefit influential offenders.

Today, whether a prisoner is given the death sentence or not in India depends on not just the crime but on factors like the quality of lawyers and the personal views of judges.The cases of 18 people on death row seeking commutation of their sentences are scheduled to be heard together by the Supreme Court next month. In some of these cases, judges have disagreed on sentencing and even on guilt. In most, the prisoners have already spent over a decade in jail. The death penalty is inconsistent and unfair. It is not a deterrent, it is not justice, and its use stains our society. From Mahatma Gandhi to B R Ambedkar, India’s founding fathers have called for the abolition of the death penalty.It is time to end this cruel, inhumane and degrading punishment.

I urge your government to immediately halt any further executions, commute all death sentences, and put an end to the death penalty in India.

Signed,

AmnestyInternational India

This petition closed over 1 year ago

How this will help

Express your concern about the arbitrary, flawed and biased use of the death penalty in India. Urge the Indian government to immediately halt any further executions, commute all death sentences,...

Express your concern about the arbitrary, flawed and biased use of the death penalty in India. Urge the Indian government to immediately halt any further executions, commute all death sentences, and put an end to the death penalty in India.